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Objective

The Slamdance Screenplay Competition is dedicated to discovering and supporting emerging writing talent. We welcome screenplays in every genre, on any topic, from anywhere in the world. A unique feature of the competition is providing constructive feedback for every entrant. In addition to this, we also offer a more intensive coverage service for a supplementary fee. Now in our 23rd year, we have a history of highlighting talented, independent screenwriters and introducing them to the entertainment industry. All of our readers approach scripts differently, but in general we are looking for originality and promise in a work. As an organization, we strive to foster an independent spirit among new writers and our filmmaking community. The Slamdance Screenplay Competition has consistently linked finalists work to management representation, option and production agreements. We've established a strong track record through our competition successes and are committed to championing outstanding new work.

Our competition consists of four categories. Awards are given to the top three scripts in each category. In addition to that, Slamdance will present the Grand Prize for the best screenplay, regardless of category.

Short

Original Teleplay

Feature

Horror

Deadline/Entry Fees

Expired. Previous Deadline: 07/27/2018

Notification: September 17th, 2018 - Announce Quarter-Finalists - in no particular order
September 24th, 2018 - Announce Semi-Finalists - In no particular order
October 1st, 2018 - Announce Top 12 scripts - In no particular order
October 11th, 2018 - WGAW Party for Finalists - Announce Winners

Rules

Rules:

Screenplays must not have been previously optioned, purchased or produced.

Screenplays must not have received awards from other competitions over $500.00 at the time of entry.

Screenwriters who have had previous feature screenplays produced and distributed by non-independent means are ineligible.

Screenplays must be in English, formatted in 12-point courier font.

Don't cheat in an effort to keep the page count to 120 or less. We will notice and ask that the extra fee be paid for screenplays in excess of 120 pages. As a standard rule, 1.5" left, 1" right and 1" top and bottom is a good one.

To enter the Slamdance Screenplay Competition you must agree to its Terms and Conditions.

The Slamdance Screenplay Competition Readers' decisions are final.

Teleplays must not have been previously optioned, purchased or produced.

Slamdance is not responsible for screenplays or coverage stolen or lost in transit

For screenplays longer than 120 pages, fifteen dollars is added to the regular entry fees.

Cover pages are optional. If you decide to use one, it would ideally include just a title, author name, WGA registration number and Copyright information.

Awards

A total of $16,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to the winners this year.

The Grand Prize winner will receive $8,000 in cash.

The winners of the Short, Feature, Horror, and Original Teleplay categories will receive $2,000 in cash, each.

The top three screenwriters in each category will receive prize packages that include Festival Passes good for all screenings and parties at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah (January 2018)

The top three screenwriters in the Feature and Horror category are eligible for membership in the Writers Guild of America’s Independent Writers Caucus.

The winning Horror feature and Feature screenplays will receive $2,500 in legal services from Pierce Law Group, LLP

The top three screenwriters in each category will receive merchandise from the Slamdance SHOP
(T-shirts, beanies, etc.).

The top three screenwriters in each category will be included in the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival program which is distributed to industry professionals in Park City and year round.

Production companies, studios, top agencies and managers request to read our top scripts.

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Updated: 10/10/2013

Slamdance and JuntoBox Films, a collaborative film studio for filmmakers and fans, today announced a partnership for the 2013 Screenplay Competition to discover and support emerging writing talent. This year's Grand Prize by JuntoBox Films is the largest offered by Slamdance to the winning writer in the nineteen years of the competition's history. In addition to the $10,000 cash, JuntoBox Films is committing a minimum of $50,000 towards production financing with the option to fully fund the Grand Prize winner.

Updated: 03/12/2013

The Bloodline, written by Sneha Koorse, has won the 2012 Slamdance Writing Competition Grand Prize. Sneha was awarded $8,000 in cash prizes for her original teleplay at an awards ceremony hosted by the Writers Guild Of America, West last night on October 3, 2012. It's the first time a teleplay has won Slamdance's Grand Prize.

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Interviews

MovieBytes Interview:Screenwriter Will Hartman

An interview with screenwriter Will Hartman regarding the Slamdance Writing Competition.

Q: What's the title of the script you entered in this contest, and what's it about?

A: Easy Pickins'. It's a short black comedy about two thugs who get more than they bargained for when they try to rob a little old lady. Sorta "Home Alone" with a granny.

Q: What made you enter this particular contest? Have you entered any other contests with this script? If so, how did you do?

A: Slamdance had two prizes this year for their short screenplay competition: the Grand Prize, which was $500 cash and Final Draft software, and also a special "Duke City Shootout" prize, which was 50K to produce the winning screenplay! That's quite a remarkable prize for a short film contest and is made possible by the Digital Filmmaking Institute in New Mexico. They give seven contest-winning screenwriters from around the country a chance to make their film in seven days. It's a veritable "shootout" in the desert, and an incredible opportunity by anybody's standard.

Well, I happened to read about this on the Slamdance website the night before the postmark deadline, and I literally stayed up all that night and into the morning to write a short script that I thought might be a competitive read for selection. Fortunately, it only had to be fifteen pages, so I was able to get the script written, polished, and sent off before the last truck left the post office that afternoon.

A couple months later, I got a call from the Slamdance screenplay director, John Stoddard, informing me that I was a finalist. And then a couple weeks later I was the winner of the Duke City Shootout special prize. And then, just last week, Easy Pickins' was also selected as the short screenplay Grand Prize winner, so in the short script category, it was a two-for-two sweep!

Q: Were you satisfied with the adminstration of the contest? Did they meet their deadlines? Did you receive all the awards that were promised?

A: Slamdance as everybody knows is a great festival. They have a really talented group of individuals working there and they are very much about finding new voices on the indie scene and giving them a conduit to be heard. They were really supportive and followed-through with updates and information. And yes I got everything they promised: For the Duke City Shootout special prize, I was flown to the desert in the middle of July, given equipment, crew, locations and post facilities and told to make my movie.

And because Easy Pickins' also won the Slamdance Grand Prize, I did get a check for $500 and some great Final Draft software too!

I am going to name my first child Slamdance.

Q: Were you given any feedback on your script? If so, did you find the feedback helpful?

A: Yes, both John Stoddard, the screenplay director at Slamdance, and Dan Mirvish, the founder of the festival, read the script and gave me notes. Mostly, they were looking at it with an eye on the Duke City Shootout, and the pragmatic limitations of shooting a 15 page (which was reduced to 12 for the shootout) script in four days.

Easy Pickins has a fair amount of visual effects and some set-piece moments that were by just about everybody's definition "ambitious," to say the least. So the primary feedback from the festival was about how I might be able to modify certain scenes to have a better chance of making the movie without compromising the story. In the end, I did modify some scenes, reducing locations and some unnecessary sight gags, but am happy to say what was written is pretty much what ended up on the screen.

Q: Has your success in this contest helped you market your script? Were you contacted by any agents, managers or producers?

A: I am repped at Artistry Management by Dan Spilo and Joel Mendoza. They are really great guys and they were behind this script from day one. Joel even came all the way out to New Mexico for the gala screening at the end of the shoot week. They've been great helping me get meetings with people that I usually just read about in the trades. One guy was a development exec at Screen Gems who I'd remembered watching on that Project Greenlight show quite a bit. That was cool.

Q: What's your background? Have you written any other screenplays or television scripts?

A: I come from the advertising world. I write and direct TV commercials for a large ad agency in Los Angeles, specializing in kids, comedy and sports mostly. I've been doing that for about ten years. On the side, I've been writing and, occasionally, directing short films too. Easy Pickins is my fifth short film, and third of this year (2007).

Last year, I wrote and directed a short comedy called Moosecock starring Brian Baumgartner (The Office) and Kevin Rahm (Desperate Housewives) that did pretty well at film festivals. It's one of those scripts that people either love or hate, that's for sure.

I think every writer has to go through a process of finding their voice, what they want to say, how they want to say it. It's taken me a long time to get to a place where I sorta have "a perspective" that I can draw from in telling the stories I want to tell.

Q: Do you live in Los Angeles? If not, do you have any plans to move there?

A: I do live in Los Angeles. I came here via Chicago about ten years ago. It took me about five years just to figure out how everything worked, who was who, and the process of it all, and advertising was an easier way to make a living as a writer.

I think you have to live here in LA to start a writing career. Actually, I'll rephrase that: you don't have to live here to start a writing career--there are plenty of online resources and competitions to get a script noticed--but once you've got a start, you should move here to take meetings and get to know the people who do the hiring. Even more important than you knowing them, is that they know you. Socially, as well as professionally. Everybody wants to work with their friends.

Q: What's next? Are you working on a new script?

A: I am working on a feature length version of Easy Pickins and I also just optioned a friend's script that I think has a lot of potential as a high concept buddy comedy. We're going to polish that up and hopefully go out with it before the strike.